


Magick

by Chocobofever



Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M, Magick!AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-15
Updated: 2016-11-15
Packaged: 2018-08-28 20:24:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8461747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chocobofever/pseuds/Chocobofever
Summary: The one in which Kakashi struggles. Not with magick, silly! With relationships.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was (originally) inspired by a fic in which Kakashi is some sort of magician and he uses the connection between himself and Iruka to send his magic to the brunette... People remember that one? I read it like two years or so ago, rofl. That's how long this has been lying about.

Kakashi was a capable mage, Iruka had to admit. In a flurry of robes and wild hair Kakashi sent off another spell at his opponent, taking the jonin level Cloud Mage by surprise. When Kakashi fought things always got flashy. Well, at least when Iruka was watching, it did. Apparently, and Iruka did not know as he'd never actually had a chance to witness it, the older man was something of a lazy-ass otherwise, outsmarting his opponents with dumb gimmicks and conserving the raw magical energy for another day.

“You were watching?” Kakashi would always drawl afterwards, acting like Iruka’s response did not matter even as sweat ran down both sides of his face, attendants rushing in to reign in the excess energy oozing off Kakashi's well-trained, sinewy body. It was a side-effect of Kakashi’s use of dubious magicks, Iruka knew.

"How could I not? I swear the whole city has been in an upheaval since your fight was announced,” Iruka huffed, a knowing smile on his lips. “Apparently I just couldn't sit out on this one.”

Kakashi looked pleased, his eyes resting on Iruka just a tad too long for the glance to be considered casual. “Did the fight live up to your expectations?” One of the attendants, a young boy, held out the eye-patch to Kakashi. Kakashi placed it over his red eye. It was something Kakashi never spoke of, but Iruka had listened to gossip enough to know the _Sharingan_ had not originally been his lover’s.

“You sliced through him like butter,” Iruka assured. He didn’t know if his words were actually a compliment, but since Kakashi’s eyes lit up, it must have been the right thing to say. Iruka didn’t actually like the Battle Ring. He found it brutal, out-dated and plain insanity; If Iruka was ever voted Hokage, his first degree would be to raise the minimum age limit to forty to limit immature idiots from attending.

His lover included. 

"I might have overdone it a tad," Kakashi admitted, ducking his head sheepishly.

Though, if Kakashi was an idiot, so was Iruka for dating him. They were a disastrous combo, Iruka had known it from the start, yet, miraculously, they were still together two years later. Not for a lack of trying on Kakashi’s part.

“Oh,” said Kakashi looking up. “I think I forgot to tell you. I’ll be going away for a while, starting tomorrow.”

“Who’ll you be going with?” Iruka asked.

Kakashi vanishing for weeks on end was nothing new; At least not now that he actually remembered to inform someone of his departure before he up and disappeared. Kakashi didn’t really start remembering until Iruka one time lost his temper bad enough to change the locks while the genius Mage was away. A baffled Kakashi broke his way in three weeks and two days later, wondering why his lover was so inordinately mad. Ex-lover.  _Wait, what do you mean ex?????_ To this day Iruka still had the old system on display to remind the silver-haired, pain-in-the-ass genius of what was on stake.

“Rin.”

Iruka stared, but Kakashi met his gaze without flinching. “Only Nohara-san?” he asked, to be sure.

At this point Kakashi seemed to realize that a simple trip with an amazing mechanic of magical vehicles might not be as simple as he’d originally thought, if only because he’d happened to date said mechanic previously. And maybe because she still announced her love for him shamelessly.

”It’s for work,” Kakashi said lamely, knowing it was a weak excuse. Yet Kakashi could not put off his trip.

He realized he was treading that thin line again, the one between ‘quite okay’ and ‘I’m mad enough to break up with you’, but the thought of giving up on his new theory on magick implementation caused him to feel queasy inside. Research was always a race against the clock—Kakashi wasn’t renown because of superior genetics or the like, he just _sacrificed_ and worked day and night to finish before others could raise their hand and say they’d done it first. Kakashi was the best because he was willing to sacrifice _everything._

Well not _everything_ everything. Kakashi eyed Iruka anxiously.

“What will you be working on?" Iruka asked eventually.

Kakashi breathed out. Curiosity was infinitely better than a _no_ and Kakashi opened his mouth—Suddenly no sounds would pass Kakashi’s lips, his eyes widened, a cold, dreadful feeling creeping up his suddenly stiff spine.

He almost forgot, _he couldn’t actually tell Iruka what he’d be doing._ It was his research. Iruka was reliable, but also talkative to a fault, Kakashi would know, having tricked him into revealing personal tidbits of information before (mostly while in the courting phase. Kakashi also thought Iruka was awfully lax about such things, he hardly seemed alarmed when Kakashi tricked his life story out of him, but it all served to prove a point. Iruka liked talking and though this was pleasant to listen to, it also meant a potential leak. A leak Kakashi could not afford.)

Alarmed, realizing he had about fifteen seconds before Iruka murdered him or worse, broke up with him, Kakashi hurried to speak. “Er, it’s a project.”

Iruka actually looked stunned. Thinking back on what he’d said, Kakashi wanted to beat his head into the nearest wall.

“I mean, it’s...” Kakashi struggled for words. “It’s magick.” There, that at least sounded like he was giving out details, didn’t it?

“Okay.”

Kakashi sucked in a resigned breath, hanging his head. “I know, I know, terrible explanation, but—” His head jerked up. “Pardon?”

“I said ‘okay’.”

Kakashi’s gut lurched.

It was a trap, wasn’t it? Most definitely a trap. But _oh_ Kakashi wanted it to be true, so much! Let Iruka understand. He didn’t want to fight with the teacher. Kakashi had never said as much, but he wanted the brunette to be happy. He’d even wasted a hundred and forty hours researching a spell to invigorate the teacher’s flowers with. The mere thought of how much brain power had been waste had Kakashi shuddering, but the baffled, very honest smile on Iruka’s lips had been worth it.

“You don’t need to look so anxious. I said ‘okay’, didn’t I?”

Kakashi grimaced. “Is it actually okay though?”

Suddenly the mask of polite kindness fell off Iruka’s face, leaving behind a thoroughly exhausted, even resigned man. “You’re taking Nohara-san along for her skills, right?” Kakashi nodded slowly, unable to do anything else, his attention fastened on the tired lines around Iruka’s eyes. “I know you two will just be working. Coped up in a sweaty dungeon for days. You’ll only have a couch, which you’ll be sharing because neither is willing to put their research down long enough to sleep in a hotel. And, since you’re good friends and Rin is too lay to change in the bathroom,” It was the first time Kakashi heard Iruka address Rin by her first name. “She’ll be walking around in her underwear—”

“It’s not like that,” Kakashi began to say, only to be interrupted by Iruka’s nostrils flaring, his tone rising to thunder through the changing room they were, embarrassingly, still occupying.

“DON’T LIE TO ME. That girl is head over heels for you—You know this!” Iruka’s tone suddenly fell quiet. “Then, it’s not like you haven’t seen her naked. Maybe that’s nothing out of the usual for you.”

What could he say? Kakashi wasn’t good with words, never had been. Iruka’s expectations on that account were too high. Kakashi’s floundered for words, about to rip his hair out of his head when the simmering anger in Iruka’s features melted away.

“Forget it,” Iruka murmured, turning to leave.

“Wait,” called Kakashi, reaching for him. The teacher moved just out of touch, lifting his head enough that Kakashi could see one brown eye.

“I’m not breaking up with you. Just let me be alone for a while.”

With those words, Iruka slipped out. Kakashi’s chest, so warm and alive only minutes before, felt cold. When was the last time he’d messed up a date this bad?

—

Kakashi knew he should be proud of a spell that did not quite fix ‘everything’, but was enough to save the lives of thousands should another drought hit their country. It was a major accomplishment and one which would invigorate Rin’s business, which generally wasn’t mainstream enough to make a lot of money off. Yet, at the end of the day, Kakashi was left with only a goblet of wine in his hands hands while all his friends kissed, snuggled and not-so-subtly groped prospects they’d found lurking about Kakashi at his celebratory dinner.

“Cheer up! There’s wine. There’s girls. This night is perfect!” announced Genma, one girl giggling uncontrollably under his arm.

Kakashi didn’t know why it did not annoy him more that his friends used his fame to attract the opposite sex.

“Cheers,” said Kakashi listlessly. 

Usually it would be Iruka insisting he attend such occasions, saying it was ‘important’. Kakashi didn’t know much about politics, but since the Third himself had thanked him once, Kakashi inferred Iruka must be right. Kakashi had thought the teacher would show up _for sure_ since, in Iruka’s own words, they _weren’t breaking up_. 

So where was Kakashi’s favorite teacher?

“Having fun?” Rin said, dropping in the seat next to him. She was drunk—The tone of her voice, high and airy, and the shiny look to her eyes were damning enough clues.

“Impossibly,” Kakashi drawled. Rin laughed—They’d always shared that same, twisted sense of humor.

“You know,” Rin said, taking another sip of her drink. “I was so sure Mr. Teacher wouldn’t let you go. When you asked me along, I mean. I’m happy he did. The High Speed Humidity Distributor is a resounding success.”

Did Rin guess the reason to Kakashi’s lowered mood? Well, she certainly knew him well enough to do that.

“He wasn’t very happy,” Kakashi admitted, his voice now low.

Rin hummed. The look in her eyes shifted and she sat closer by. “He didn’t come to celebrate?”

Kakashi shook his head.

“Did you ask?”

Again, Kakashi shook his head.

“You’re an idiot, you know that,” Rin chastised.

“I know,” said Kakashi. The point was, he did. “I just...” He rubbed the side of his face, feeling the growing beard under his mask.

“Talk to him, Kakashi. Walk up to his door and knock. With a bundle of flowers in your hand, preferably.” The look on Rin’s face was exasperated, but loving. “Umino is the type of person to appreciate a straightforward approach. You won’t get anywhere doing,” She waved her hand in circles. 

 __

As Rin's ideas were, usually, better than Kakashi’s own, he decided to take her advice. The next morning, seven sharp AM, he approached Iruka's cottage, a bundle of self-picked flowers in his hand. He’d chosen early morning because one, it gave him less time to chicken out and two, Iruka was a morning person. If Kakashi approached before he'd been in class, Iruka wouldn’t yet have been aggravated by his students, the little demons the teacher insisted he loved.

Swallowing thickly, Kakashi knocked. He braced himself, hearing approaching steps, and when Iruka swung the door open—The teacher did not look as fresh as Kakashi would have preferred. Not fresh at all, in fact. 

“Flowers?” Kakashi said weakly, holding the bundle out.

“Don’t get dirt on the carpet. I vacuumed it just yesterday,” was all Iruka said, leaving the door open and sinking back into the darkness of his personal cave. 

Kakashi looked at the flowers in his hand, then stepped in, inferring that Iruka must not have seen them. Yes, that must be it. Kakashi was careful to remove his boots on the small mat in the doorway, placing them neatly on the rack. Then, unusually shakily, he made his way deeper into Iruka’s lair.

There he found a cup of warm tea waiting for him at the table. Iruka was nowhere to be seen, the sounds of his fumbling sounding from the direction of the bathroom and bedroom, but the tea was definitely Kakashi’s. It was served in his favorite, Icha Icha-themed mug, and by the scent he could tell the teacher had remembered his sort.

“Iruka,” said Kakashi when he’d made it half-way though his cup and the teacher was still off doing whatever.

“What?”

Kakashi looked over his shoulder. “What are you doing?”

“Cleaning.”

Kakashi looked around the teacher’s hut. Now that he paid mind to it, the house was unusually spotless. Iruka was of the tidy type, but usually not to a freakish degree. He tended to have the occasional pile lying about, as well 'gifts' from his students. “Is there a specific reason as to why you’re cleaning...” His eyes drifted to the clock on the wall. “At half past seven in the morning?” Half past and two minutes, since Iruka’s clock always tended to run late.

“It’s a soul nurturing activity.”

Kakashi was used to Iruka’s weird notions, but this took things to a whole another level. Cleaning to heal your soul was weird, wasn’t it? “We could always—”

“I’ll castrate you if you as much as suggest something perverted.”

Okay, so maybe Rin wasn’t the only one who knew Kakashi well.

“I meant we could do it together,” Kakashi said. A nice save, Rin would have called it.

This time Iruka appeared in person, a pile of magazines held in a tight grip. The teacher’s hair was unruly and there was soot on his cheek. “Don’t touch my piles. They’re the only thing keeping me from strangling you right now.”

Okay. Great.

“At seven in the morning?” Kakashi asked.

“Seven thirty,” Iruka corrected him. “And I infer you haven’t read the newspaper yet.”

Kakashi’s brows furrowed. He didn’t care much about news, not the trivial kind any way, and he wouldn’t have been able to focus today anyway while he prepared mentally for today's task. 

Iruka reached for something off the kitchen counter, the daily news Kakashi realized. The teacher threw it across the room to land in front of Kakashi.

“Which page?” Kakashi asked, eyeing it.

“Doesn’t matter—It’s all over it." 

Intimidated but also more than a bit curious, Kakashi gently unfolded the page. Iruka was right—It didn’t take him long to infer what had the teacher in such a fray. On first page there was a picture of him and Rin, holding on to the price the Fire Lord had decided to gift them. Then, a smaller picture lay on top of that, taking up the lower left corner, and in this one Kakashi and Rin were sitting awfully close by, discussing something they didn't want other people to hear. 

For the first time Kakashi kind of understood what Iruka saw when he thought of Rin and Kakashi together. His stomach rolled though he knew nothing untoward had been going on. Together, they _looked_ intimate. And judging by some of the titles, the journalists thought so too.

Kakashi cleared his throat. “Iruka, I...”

“I know it’s nothing. I know, seriously." Iruka's eyes were sad and gathering wetness at a dangerous rate. Kakashi could do nothing but stare. "I  _know_ its nothing, but it hurts that you will share such a large part of your life with her, yet I always get pushed away. I know that your research means life itself to you." 

Kakashi didn't know what to say. Was there anything he could say to salvage the situation? 

"I just feel like I'm not really part of your life right now," Iruka finished. 

—

“Senpai!” Tenzo ran up the lane to Iruka’s house, in a disheveled state. He stopped just off the porch, leaning his hands on his knees to catch his breath. “I just went to your house—What happened to it? When I knocked, some old woman—”

“Shh!” Kakashi put his finger to his lips, looking over his shoulder in alarm. The door behind his back stood ajar and a short gust later, it quietly closed. “Iruka doesn’t know yet. I don’t want to alarm him.”

Tenzo gaped. “P-Pardon?”

“The house,” said Kakashi impatiently, as if that should mean something to Tenzo. Squinting at Tenzo, looking at him with the ever familiar, oh-you’re-so-stupid-I-can’t-believe-it look, Kakashi elaborated with a quick twist of his wrist. “I sold it. I don’t need it anymore.”

“Y-You don’t?”

Kakashi’s only response was a few quick twists of his wrist, clearly indicating the house behind him. Tenzo looked up the soft yellow wall, the white window frames and the smoke that rose up the pipe. Iruka’s house, Tenzo knew well enough, having been there before, most often to look for his elusive senpai.

“And you didn’t ask Iruka-san yet?”

“There hasn’t been a good moment. I’ll get to it eventually.”

Tenzo didn't know what to say. It wasn't unusual of Kakashi to rob people of their breath, but this was something else. Next level madness. They said there was a thin line between madness and genius, didn't they? 

“Wipe that look off your face, kohai. I’m your elder."

“You know where I live,” Tenzo said eventually. “And where to find the spare blankets and such.”

“Don’t invite me yet. I won’t need it.”

 _Yeah right,_ was all Yamato thought, turning on his heel. 

“I won’t need it! Tenzo!”

In the distance, Tenzo heard the click of a door opening and a soft voice asking Kakashi what exactly he wasn’t in the need of. Kakashi spluttered something in response and Tenzo could only shake his head in exasperation. Yet, his lips tugged up. 

Some things never changed.


End file.
